FissionFacts
Nuclear energy calculators

Nuclear Energy Calculators

Five interactive tools that make the scale of nuclear power tangible — compare fuels, size up a reactor, track radioactive decay, put radiation doses in context, and explore how reactor fuel is enriched.

Fuel Equivalence

See how much coal, oil or gas it takes to match a single kilogram of uranium. The numbers are genuinely staggering.

Compare fuels →
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Reactor Output

Turn thermal power and efficiency into electrical output, annual generation and the number of homes powered.

Size a reactor →
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Radioactive Decay

Calculate how much of a radioactive isotope remains after any time, using its half-life. Pick an isotope or enter your own.

Calculate decay →
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Radiation Dose

Convert between sieverts, rem and other dose units, and see how an exposure compares to flights, X-rays and background.

Convert & compare →
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Uranium Enrichment

Work out the separative work (SWU) and natural uranium feed needed to make reactor fuel at a given enrichment.

Calculate SWU →

Why nuclear energy is hard to picture

Nuclear power runs on numbers that don't fit everyday intuition. A piece of uranium you could hold in one hand stores the energy of thousands of tonnes of coal; a single reactor quietly powers a city; and the materials involved decay on timescales from seconds to millions of years. Those scales are exactly why people find nuclear confusing — and why seeing the maths laid out helps.

These calculators each tackle one piece of that. The fuel equivalence calculator shows the energy density that makes nuclear unique. The reactor output calculator connects a plant's thermal rating to the homes it serves. The radioactive decay calculator demystifies half-life, behind both medical isotopes and nuclear waste. The radiation dose calculator puts exposures in everyday context, and the uranium enrichment calculator reveals the effort behind reactor fuel. Each is independent, accurate, and built to be explored.